Malaysia to return plastic waste to countries including UK

Malaysia's Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change, Yeo Bee Yin shows a sample of plastic waste shipment from England in Port Klang, Malaysia, Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Malaysia says it will send back some 3,000 metric tonnes (330 tons) of non-recyclable plastic waste to countries including the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia in a move to avoid becoming a dumping ground for rich nations. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

By Press AssociationShare

28th May 2019

By Associated Press Reporters

Malaysia has said it will send back some 3,000 metric tonnes of non-recyclable plastic waste to countries including the UK, US, Canada and Australia, in a move to avoid becoming a dumping ground for rich nations.

She said 10 containers will be shipped back within two weeks as she showed reporters contents of the waste at a port outside Kuala Lumpur.

The waste that was displayed included cables from the UK, contaminated milk cartons from Australia and compact discs from Bangladesh. Also shown were electronic and household waste from the US, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia and China.

Ms Yeo said Malaysia and many developing countries have become new targets after China banned the import of plastic waste last year.

"This is probably just the tip of the iceberg (due) to the banning of plastic waste by China," she said.

"Malaysia will not be a dumping ground to the world... we will fight back. Even though we are a small country, we can't be bullied by developed countries."

In one case alone, Ms Yeo said a UK recycling company exported more than 50,000 metric tons of plastic waste in about 1,000 containers to Malaysia over the past two years.

The government has clamped down on dozens of illegal plastic recycling facilities that had mushroomed across the country, shutting more than 150 plants since last July. Earlier this month, the government also sent back five containers of waste to Spain.

Ms Yeo said China's plastic waste ban had "opened up the eyes of the world to see that we have a huge rubbish and recycling problem".

"We urge the developed countries to review their management of plastic waste and stop shipping the rubbish out to the developing countries," she said.

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